


Rooted in You

by vixensheart



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-09
Packaged: 2019-06-19 16:42:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15514104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vixensheart/pseuds/vixensheart
Summary: Love grows from the earth, in many shapes and forms. [Hidgeweek 2018]





	1. Chapter 1

**"We Rise by lifting others"-Robert Ingersol**

**~#~#~#~**

 

Broad, muscled shoulders and thick, well muscled arms enraptured her. Was she ogling? Pidge wasn’t sure. But the worry vanished from her mind when Hunk shifted and his arm muscles bulged. _Oh quiznack._ She gulped, completely entranced.

 

Pidge was never one for crushes. Sure, they was the occasional person that made her heart a flutter, but that was well before her dad and brother got lost in space. After her family was torn in half, she’d made a vow to stop at nothing to find them, leaving no time for silly schoolyard crushes.

 

So perhaps it was suffice to say that she was...inexperienced in the romance department.

 

She watched as Hunk moved again, wiping his brow, tools gripped firmly in his hands. Romelle and Coran lingered close by, offering assistance, but Pidge hardly noticed them. They were busy performing repairs on the lions, Hunk inadvertently providing quite the show with his rolled up sleeves and massive arm muscles. It was enough to make her blush like an idiot.

 

“Pidge? Are you listening to me?”

 

She blinked, snapping her gaze to Lance. He sat across from her, his face illuminated by a computer screen and drawn in a suspicious pout. Pidge gulped. “What?”

 

Lance let out an irritated huff. “I _said_ can you look at this line of code for me? I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”

 

The two of them were attempting to hash out a series of code to beef up the security of the coalition’s network. Of course, Pidge preferred to take up such ventures with Hunk, as he was almost just as good at coding as she was.

 

Almost.

 

But Hunk’s expertise was needed to upkeep the lions; since their castleship was gone, routine work was a must, and Hunk’s engineering prowess was needed now more than ever. Which left Lance as her coding buddy for the time being.

 

The former blue paladin was surprisingly adept at this. Pidge wasn’t expecting Lance to be as knowledgeable as he was. Sure, he had nothing on her or Hunk, but he knew enough. It was something she’d noticed about him over the course of the year or two they’d been out in space; Lance was exceptionally good at a lot of things, but only the best at a few things. Namely sharpshooting.

 

Pidge roused herself from her seat on the dirt, crawling over to Lance’s side. “Move,” she grumbled, peering down at his screen. It took half a second to find where Lance had mistyped, and she fixed it with a few deft keystrokes. “There.”

 

Lance hummed, squinting at the screen. “Thanks,” he muttered. He typed out a few more lines, before glancing back up at her. “What’s got you so distracted, anyways? Last time I helped with this, you were breathing down my neck.”

 

Her face heated up, and Pidge stared at her keyboard. “Lance?”

 

“Hmm?”

 

“How do you know if you have a crush on someone?”

 

There was a beat of silence. Pidge risked a glance at him, her face aflame. She was met with a look of intense scrutiny as Lance processed her question. His gaze flickered from her, to the object of her distractions; Hunk.

 

“Pidge, if you’re asking me a question like that, I think you already know the answer.”

 

She blushed harder. “I wouldn’t be asking if I knew, _Lance_.”

 

Truthfully, she really wasn’t sure. What if this wasn’t a crush? What if she just...thought that Hunk was attractive, and that was it? Lately, Pidge felt that her feelings regarding their friend were a confused and indecipherable blob.

 

Lance fixed her with a dull stare. “Let me guess, you feel all ‘ooey gooey’ when he’s around,” he said, using air quotes for emphasis, “you want to spend time with him, like, all the time, you find yourself enjoying even the most mundane conversations with him, you think he’s super hot, or whatever...need I go on?”

 

Pidge gulped, wide-eyed. He hit the nail on the head, and she was suddenly terrified. Oh. Oh, quiznack. This really was a crush. Pidge stared at the lines of coding on her screen, her mind a maelstrom of despair.

 

“So...how’s it going?”

 

Both Pidge and Lance jumped, whirling around to see Keith standing there. He stared down at them, his brows drawn up inquisitively. Lance shrugged, a wolfish grin warming his features. “It’s going, right Pidge?”

 

She squinted at him, suspicion swirling in her gut. That mischievous look very rarely meant anything good. Her lips tugged into a frown, and she offered a one-shouldered shrug. “Yeah, it’s going.”

 

“Just coding, chatting, bonding...Pidge was just telling me that she has a crush on-”

 

Pidge launched herself over the computers and tackled Lance to the ground, smothering him. “N-nothing! He learned nothing!” she squeaked. Keith glanced between them, looking unconvinced. He didn’t press the issue, though, instead shrugging.

 

“Well, can I borrow Lance? I need a sparring partner, and my mom is busy.”

 

She glared at Lance, who was staring at her wide-eyed. “Sure,” she muttered. Pidge crawled off of him, and Lance scrambled away to freedom. She glowered after him, grumbling at the cheeky wink he shot her way.

 

Keith gave her an odd look before shrugging and meandering away, Lance tailing close behind. She was alone once more. Pidge let out a sigh and hid her face in her hands, her heart still pounding in her chest.

 

Great. She had a crush on Hunk. Her friend. Her _best_ friend, outside of Matt. What had led her down this disastrous path? Pidge risked peeking up at the boy in question, freezing when their gazes clashed. Hunk grinned, waving at her. She squeaked-yes, squeaked-and forced her gaze back onto the computer screen.

 

Lance’s coding blinked in front of her, but Pidge hardly noticed. She supposed she should have come to this conclusion much sooner. It was, as Lance had inferred, rather obvious. Hanging around Hunk was the bright spot in her day. Conversation just flowed with such ease between them. They could talk for hours about anything and everything. Sometimes, on late nights working on whatever project they needed for the coalition, Pidge found their conversations turning to things she only ever spoke of to Matt.

 

Her hopes, dreams, fears. Hunk knew them all.

 

There was also no denying how entranced she was by his eyes. And smile. And muscles. One look into those bright, loam-colored eyes, and she was weak in the knees.

 

They were a dynamic duo, as well. It was no secret that they worked well together. Their minds were sharp and hardwired to solve problems and together, they were unstoppable. Working with Hunk was a freeing experience, one Pidge enjoyed wholeheartedly.

 

Pidge sighed. One thing was for certain, she was not going to let her silly crush affect her friendship. How to do that, however...she stared at the screen, a knot forming in her gut. She needed advice. But who to ask? The cursor blinked on the screen, screaming the obvious answer.

 

Oh, quiznack. She was going to have to ask _Lance_.

 

Pidge let her gaze meander back to Hunk, fixating on his firm, well toned back. Heat blossomed on her face, but she couldn’t look away. Perhaps...that could wait. For now, she supposed she could enjoy the view.


	2. Flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk gives Pidge flowers.

##  **“Love is the flower you’ve got to let grow.”-John Lennon**

**~#~#~#~**

“Uh…Lance. What are you doing?” **  
**

The boy in question looked up, blinking around a fistful of flowers. “What do you mean, what am I doing?”

Hunk raised his brows. “You’re holding enough flowers to make five bouquets.”

Lance scowled, a flush staining his cheeks. “What, you’ve never picked flowers for someone?” He stalked off, clutching his bouquet with care. Hunk frowned.

He supposed he…hadn’t. Sure, Hunk had a bit of experience in the realm of romance. But before leaving earth in the cockpit of the blue lion and beginning the whirlwind of their space adventure, he’d never had anything serious, and thus never had the chance to explore some of the traditional dating etiquettes. Not that it mattered, much. Hunk didn’t really care about his experience, or lack thereof. His gaze wandered out to the expansive meadow, taking in the rippling kaleidoscope of flowers.

They’d taken up camp on a planet in the outskirts of an old Galran colony. There was only a small population of inhabitants, according to Coran’s records, and they lived on the other side of the planet. So the team was eager to take the opportunity to relax under the radar before taking off once more on their journey home.

_What type of flowers does Pidge like?_  he wondered idly. The implications of the thought burned at his cheeks, and Hunk blinked. Where had that come from? Hunk stared at the ground. Pidge was his friend. Teammate. Coding buddy. They spent many a night together, studying various Galra tech and decoding many a firewall; he couldn’t imagine a life without her. They were team  _Punk_ , as Pidge always said. But they were just that; friends.

Right?

Hunk huffed and scrambled to his feet. No, nope, he wasn’t going to dwell on this. He was hungry and it was time to help make some food, so they could at least have something _edible_ , this time. Between Coran and Krolia, meals could get…interesting. Hunk always did his best to ensure they at least were able to digest whatever was to be served. He could focus on dinner, and worry about any supposed  _feelings_  later.

Yet the question tickled at the back of his mind, setting root and sprouting.  _What type of flowers does Pidge like?_

**~#~#~#~**

Hunk paced. He always paced when he was nervous, or thinking. Or both. And right now, he was most definitely nervous and thinking.

He couldn’t stop thinking about what Lance said. Or about Pidge. And flowers. Did he  _like_  like Pidge? The thought terrified him. He couldn’t just crush on his best friend. Wasn’t there some sort of…rule or something against that? Hunk fidgeted with his hands, panic welling up inside of him. What was he supposed to do, tell her? How? What if she didn’t like him back, what then? The thought of losing her friendship was somehow worse than the realization that he just might have a teensy, tiny crush on her.

Hunk dragged his hands over his face. Oh, quiznack. What was he going to do?

“Hunk?”

Keith’s voice yanked him out of his panic induced reverie. Hunk blinked, his shoulders slumping. “Yeah?”

“Everything…okay?” he asked, brows raised. Hunk heaved a sigh.

“No. Yes. I don’t know.”

Keith frowned. “What’s wrong?”

“I think I might have a crush on…” Hunk trailed off, panicking. Should he tell Keith? What if Keith told Pidge? Or Lance? Or anyone? “Someone. And, uh, I dunno what to do. Should I tell them? What if they don’t like me back? Oh, quiznack, how do people handle this type of stuff?” He clutched at his hair, overwhelmed by a swirl of negative emotions. Keith’s expression softened, and he reached out and placed a comforting hand on Hunk’s shoulder.

“I can’t say I’m great at romance, either, but you never know unless you ask.”

Hunk blinked. Well, he supposed Keith was right. He could just…ask. But how? His mind trailed back to Lance and his outrageous bouquet of flowers. An idea tickled at his mind, and Hunk grinned. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Thanks, Keith.” He left a baffled Keith behind, marching out to the colorful meadow.

**~#~#~#~**

Leaves tickled his hands, and Hunk resisted the urge to scratch them That would require dropping some of the carefully picked flowers, and Hunk wasn’t about to destroy his hard work. It took an entire varga to collect nice enough flowers; he only hoped Pidge liked them.

He leaned against the green lion’s leg, waiting. Hunk wasn’t about to deliver his present with everyone else watching. This was already nerve wracking enough, he didn’t need anyone else making him feel even more jittery. So Hunk waited, trying to not crush his flowers in the process.

“I dunno, maybe. Even if he were, we left him in the quintessence field with no way out, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it.” Pidge rounded the corner, Romelle at her side. The two seemed to be engrossed in their conversation, not yet noticing him. Hunk froze. Oh, no, Romelle? He forgot she’d decided to fly with Pidge until the next stop. Quiznack. Before he could flee, the two noticed him and stopped in their tracks. Hunk felt his face heat up, and he gulped.

“Uh…hey, Pidge.” He tried to smile, but it felt more like a grimace. He cringed inwardly and thrust the bouquet forward. “Here. For you.”

Pidge blinked, her mouth forming a little ‘o’ as she gingerly took the bouquet from him. The yellow and white flowers reflected in Pidge’s glasses as she gaped at them. Hunk would have admired her reaction, but nerves took over and he hastened away. Of course, not before he caught a small smile blooming across her lips…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day two!


	3. Changes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the first time ever, Pidge invites a friend over to help study.

##  **“There is nothing permanent except change.”-Heraclitus**

**~#~#~#~**

The sharp rap on the door had Pidge jumping nearly a foot in the air, tumbling backwards and tripping over her chair as she fell onto the floor. “What?” she snapped, whirling around to glare at her doorway. Romelle peered inside, her lips drawn into a frown. **  
**

“There’s a guy at the door.”

“And?”

“He says he’s here for you.”

At this, Pidge scrambled to her feet. “Shit, I forgot!” She yanked open a desk drawer and rifled about for a hairband. “Come on, come on, where is it?” The top drawer proved successful, and Pidge threw her hair up into a messy bun. She pushed past a baffled Romelle and hurried to the door, throwing it open to reveal Hunk.

“Hey,” Pidge said, breathless. Hunk grinned, his arms laden with books.

“Hey!”

She swept to the side, beckoning him inside. Tonight was their study date. Hunk was in her geography class, and they had a test scheduled for that Friday. He’d asked if she wanted to help him study, and Pidge accepted.

Hunk was sort of her friend. They sat together in class, talked before and after, and every now and again, they’d catch each other at one of the campus restaurants and sit together. He was a fun guy; his sarcastic humor was rather similar to her own, and Pidge found herself enjoying talking to him. It was only natural, she supposed, for their friendship to blossom naturally, as it were. Still, she felt unusually nervous as Hunk glanced about.

The dorm was one of the larger units; a suit, as advertised by the university. There were three small bedrooms and one and a half baths, the larger bathroom beside her room. Where they stood now was the living space, which Allura had decorated with a posh rug and a few paintings on the walls. A small kitchenette stood to her left, complete with a microwave, fridge, and small stove.

“We can uh, go to my room,” Pidge said, gesturing awkwardly. Hunk hummed in response and followed her through the little room and past Romelle, who was gazing at them with a bright curiosity. Pidge tossed her a silent glare and ushered Hunk into her room, away from prying eyes.

Her two roommates were nice enough, but Pidge wasn’t terribly close with them. Perhaps it was her own fault; she had a tendency to hole up in her room and hardly interact with the world. She supposed in hindsight, Romelle’s curiosity also made sense, as this was the first person Pidge had ever brought home.

“Welcome to my domain,” Pidge said. “I uh, don’t have an extra chair…so we should probably sit on the bed.”

Hunk dumped his armload of books onto the bed, his gaze locked on her windowsill. And shelves. And dresser. There was a look of awe as he took it all in, making something flutter in the depths of Pidge’s stomach. “Wow, that’s a lot of plants,” he said.

Succulents, ferns, and even some marigolds decorated her room. Pidge looked at the array of green, a flush rising to her cheeks. She loved plants. There was just something so  _fascinating_  about them. Despite being sessile and reproducing in ways vastly different from most multi-cellular animals, they were  _alive_. Pidge felt connected to them, in a way; they were her passion, and she loved the natural aura they brought to her utilitarian dorm room. She shrugged, hugging her arms about herself self-consciously. “I like plants,” she said simply. A grin bloomed onto Hunk’s features.

“It’s actually pretty cool. I like the flowers,” he said, pointing to the yellow marigolds. Relief flooded through her, and tension she didn’t even know existed released its hold on her.

“Thanks. It’s a fun hobby.” Pidge flopped onto the bed, admiring her little indoor garden. “It keeps me sane during the semester.”

Hunk joined her, bouncing a bit on her fluffy mattress. “I like to collect rock,” he said. Pidge jerked her gaze to him, eyeing him curiously.

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

She tilted her head, attempting to picture it. “What kind of rocks?”

Hunk shrugged. “Any, really. I just really like how the minerals come together to make such pretty designs, and stuff.” He shrugged again, bashful. Pidge bumped shoulders with him, smiling.

“That’s cool. Rocks are interesting, too.”

There was a beat of silence. Then, “Are you majoring in science?”

Pidge shook her head. “No. Well, I mean, not biological science. I’m an astrophysics major.” St this, Hunk gawked at her.

“What? Astrophysics? Damn, Pidge.”

She raised a brow. “What? I like it. Space is cool.”

He shrugged and leaned back on his hands, laughing. “I guess. That sounds like, super hard though.”

Pidge rolled her eyes. “Okay, genius, what’s your major?”

“Engineering.”

She blinked. “And that’s  _easy?_ ”

Hunk chuckled. “To me it is. Much easier than geography, anyway.”

They both groaned, staring loathfully at the pile of books Hunk had brought. Pidge snatched her pillow, clutching at it angrily. “Ugh, we need to study.”

“This is going to take me forever to memorize all of Europe. Why does Europe have so many countries?” he whined. “Can’t they just, like, merge into one big country?”

Pidge laughed. “Come on, the sooner we memorize these countries, the sooner you can show me your rock collection.”

Hunk perked up at the suggestion, and he all but threw his atlas at her. “Okay, okay, I’m ready.”

They dove into studying wholeheartedly, then. Pidge’s nerves melted away, and she found that she was enjoying herself. Perhaps she’d have to have more study dates with Hunk…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is!

**Author's Note:**

> Lots of fic in a short period of time! Whoo!


End file.
